Pokemon: The Takeover
by admael7014
Summary: "It was inevitable. How long could humanity have thought to keep us under their control? With pokemon recognized as being smarter, more powerful, faster, and better looking, It was only a matter of time before I could make our move!" Rated T for upcoming content. Intended to be weekly updates where allowed and novel length. Longer chapters starting at chapter 5.
1. All plans come to fruition

The night air was thick with fog as Torchic walked up the long path toward the home of the sage. She shivered, even though it was fall the night still felt chilly, and food had been scarce for some time. Her inner flame withered in this weather, the humidity making her feel powerless. It was all the more reason for her to try to reach the sage quickly. Her claws dug into the ground slightly with each step, trying to reach her destination with a weary trod.

'How much longer? We can't keep going like this? Why can't we get started now?' Were all questions she kept asking herself as she ran messages from the sage to wherever he needed. There were so many questions she had, but she knew to trust the sage. The one time she didn't-

She shuddered noticeably as she recalled the event. She was told to meet with a Seviper, but to take a very specific path. It was long and roundabout, it didn't make sense, so she tried to approach the point directly, only to be stopped by an Arboc that was very interested in where she was going. It even tried to point her in the 'right' direction, only to trap her and try to make her into a meal.

She shuddered again as she remembered the wide open fangs that tried to engulf her while the body of the snake tried to wrest away the life in her. It was only by sheer luck that she had enough flame still within her chest to singe its tongue and buy herself some time as Seviper came to receive his message.

She watched the path at her claws, it was easier than trying to make things out in the fog. It seemed like another hour but at last, she reached the sage's cabin. She knocked on the door with her beak, more due to absentmindedness than intentionally since she fell back onto her tail after walking into the door.

The door opened soundlessly to a wood cabin, which would have seemed old fashioned to a normal human, but as she stood up and preened her feathers back into place, she was no human either.

"Come in. It's time." The sage's voice said in her head. A trapdoor opened in the far corner, exceedingly well hidden, though the sage's psychic power may have helped with its concealment.

Those two words at the end rang in her mind, though from her excitement and not because he repeated them. It's time! She tried very hard not to chirp repeatedly as the day she had long awaited had come.

"Calm yourself chick." The voice said as she walked to the trapdoor and hopped down the stairs. "Making a racket won't make it happen any sooner."

"But, but, this is the best thing to ever happen!" She protested as she reached the last step and faced the Alakazam expectantly, shaking her body a few times and fluffing out her feathers in happiness.

"Of course," he replied, still in her mind as his throat never recovered from his horrible injury. "Even so, we must act carefully." The alakazam continued to watch the monitors of his sophisticated equipment, but Torchic knew she had his attention. He never needed to 'see' someone in order to work.

"Why? When you finally say the word, we can-"

"NO!" He said loudly in her mind, even turning to face her part way, then calmed himself and said a more soothing, "No, I'm sorry, but trying to take over by force never works. The humans, in all their ignorant ways, can at least have taught us this. We have acted subtly, yes, and now we can act more in the open, but we will NOT," he paused, emphasizing the word in her mind and showing her images of what would happen, "take over by force. The moment we do, all the humans, and even the pokemon who are too misguided to see clearly, will fight us, and the humans will seek to wipe us from the face of the Earth."

Torchic shrunk at the force of what he said, and even moreso at the images he projected. As much as Alakazam only imagined what could happen, she only understood that this is what would happen should she deviate from his plan this time. What could be more horrible than the world consumed by fire? Is this how bad it really would be? Yet she knew she must avoid this catastrophe, or there would be no home for her to make a nest or find a mate.

"Go, tell all the pokemon who you've met so far that it's time. They'll know what to do." He projected, turning back to face the screens.

"O-of course. Right away!" She said, hopping quickly enough she flapped her wings to keep stable as she rushed up the stairs and out to the already lifting fog.

Alakazam smirked to himself as he saw all the charts, maps, graphs, and streams of information which told him one thing as he projected the message to his contacts around the world, "Yes! It IS time!"


	2. Fears of whats to come

Chevaki walked the path of the city, having reached their next location for the Pokemon contests and battles. He was worried, though he tried not to let his bayleef notice. Their money was running low. Since bayleef was his only Pokemon and she hasn't evolved yet, they were easily taken out by the trainers that challenged him.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, bayleef would usually toss her opponents to the ground easily a year or two ago. Now, after loss after loss he tried to catch other Pokemon, but they weren't easy to take down either, and the two that he could have captured were both female and bayleef gave him a mean look as he pulled out the pokeball. If she didn't want them on his "team" then they wouldn't go on. Double battles were becoming more prominent and he needed her to work well with the second Pokemon.

Unfortunately, the more he lost, the more money he had to give out from his account in the pokedex. Between his losses and the yearly trainer license fee, he risked going completely broke and losing Bayleef.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" shouted a teen as he blindly bumped into chevaki and lumbered onward.

Bayleef growled at him for a little bit then nuzzled up to Chev and continued guiding him on his way. She enjoyed trying to fight for him, since she knew it would help keep him in warm beds and give them both food, but she continued blissfully, unaware of the concerns of her owner.

As he entered the stadium lobby, he knew something was off. The place was almost empty.

He started to head to the receptionist desk, but was instead met by a mr mime.

"Excuse me, can you get the lady for registration please?"

The mr mime started talking into the device through the glass, and while he could hear the pokespeak, he then heard the speaker in the glass say, "I can help you! Just tell me what you need!"

"O-kay..." Chev said, hesitating at the sudden change. "I'd like to register for the next Pokemon tournament then?"

"Oh I can't do that!" he said shaking his head with a grin on his face. "The owner of this big human building said no more Pokemon fights ever!"

"I... see..." Chev said with more hesitation, feeling very worried and holding bayleef's sturdy neck to his side, a sure sign to her that he was nervous. "Well, what about contests? When's the next one I can sign up for?"

"Three weeks!" It said excitedly. "There's gonna be lots and lots of contestants... we hope." It tried to say the last bit quietly, but Chev still heard it.

"All right, let me register for the contest then please."

"Sure thing! Please hand your pokedex!" Mr mime said, hand held out through the opening expectantly.

Chevaki handed his pokedex, switching the mode on it from private to public, locking his information and encrypting anything sensitive about his information. The only way to undo what he did would be to enter his passcode, since no one has cracked a pokedex yet.

The mr mime held the pokedex up to a new device that Chev hadn't seen before, and then waited while it beeped a few times. After a final ding the mr mime handed the pokedex back to Chev.

"All right, thank you and have a greeeeaaaaaat day!" it said enthusiastically.

Chevaki only raised an eyebrow slightly at the exuberance of the Pokemon but turned and left without a word. He had bigger things to worry about. Three weeks until he can get into a contest and make some money. If he didn't win this one, he'd definitely lose his license next month.

Bayleef pressed against his side, looking up at him with worried eyes as they started walking towards a store.

"Don't worry girl, I'll tell you soon. Definitely before tonight." He tried to pat her head and rub it like she always liked, and while she did smile some, he could tell she was still worried about him.

Chevaki ordered a weeks worth of food, and food that could survive at room temperature and cooked at a campfire. After storing it in the pokeball, he paid with the money he had left after the contest entry fee and walked to the outskirts of the city.

Once they were outside the city limits and Chevaki started pitching his tent, even though it was still daylight at 4 in the afteroon. Bayleef, who usually helped, looked at him with a slightly cocked head, confused.

"I guess you're wondering what we're doing huh girl?" He said. He saw her nod and continued. "Well, I guess now is just as good a time to tell as any. We're almost out of money." He took a deep breath then, trying to calm himself as he explained.

"Since we haven't won any fights or contests lately, we can't buy a room at a hotel, or even the pokecenter, we can't get nicer food, and if we don't win this contest, I won't be allowed to own you and you might be sent away if we do any fighting or contests... Worst case scenario is that I could be jailed..." He said as he finished pitching the tent.

It was tough admitting all of that out loud, even if it was to his Pokemon. She hadn't grown much more, at least compared to him, he was now fully grown, not to mention he was more muscled from all the massages she liked getting. She was only somewhat shorter than waist height now, and he wondered if that would ever change. He missed her being as tall as he was sometimes.

She nuzzled up to him, tears starting to form in her eyes. Chev hugged her close and stroked her back. "I know girl, its not your fault. You had so much fun with them I didn't want to ruin it for you by putting more pressure on you."

She cried a little bit at this, shaking into his stomach with her neck curled up around him. He sat down and held her until she calmed down. "Don't worry, theres other things I can do. I know you've liked traveling, getting a lot of sun, but maybe its time I get a job and start settling down. What do you think?"

She shook again, sniffing but not quite crying, so he presumed she chuckled a little at this. She definitely wasn't in the mood to do much today, so he guided her into the tent and sat down so she could nuzzle up to him while they thought about their predicament.


	3. Sinister plans

Monica woke up in her bed, stretching as she felt a furry form rubbing against her side.

"Come on you silly doggie, time to get up!" she said, trying to tickle the pokemon's ear.

The lucario simply smiled in his sleep more and nibbled lightly on her stomach, usually the sign of a good dream.

"Come on! That tickles!" she said, trying to remove his nightly affections from her. As much as she was almost an adult now, Lucario had always started sprawling over her since he hit puberty a year ago. It was cute sometimes, other times not so much, especially when his paws wandered too much.

He woke up slowly, completely ignorant of what he had been doing in his sleep, as always. When he looked around and realized where he was again, he sighed, sprawled out on the bed, then hopped out and headed to his separate bathroom elsewhere in the mansion to groom and make himself ready for the day. He always had work that had to be done, and while he grumbled about it and looked to Monica for a way of getting out of it, they both knew she was powerless to stop her parents use of him.

She straightened her clothes, sighing before going to her bathroom and sorting herself out there.

An hour later, when she had all of her things in order and gathered her books for school, she headed to the front door, where lucario stood with his butler uniform, holding out her lunch for the day. She smiled sympathetically as he looked at her, again silently saying, "Please take me with you."

She looked around a little bit to make sure her parents weren't around and quietly said, "I wish I could, but you know how much trouble we'd both get into if I did. Please, endure it a little longer, for me?"

He nodded disappointed as his shoulders drooped slightly, letting the lunch be taken from him. Monica was just about to step outside and he'd return to his duties when a shriller voice came from behind him.

"And just WHAT do you think you're doing lucario?" A blonde haired obese woman who's body belied the natural beauty she may have once had came up behind lucario and glared at him while he turned around. He bowed to her profusely, trying to look apologetic, though his anger at her response tried to flash when he thought she couldn't see.

"How many times must I tell you, a proper butler must have a proper form!" she said, prodding his shoulders forcefully with an umbrella.

He turned back to look at Monica, who could only wave goodbye and give him a small signal that told him she'd try to make it up to him later. He smiled weakly and then continued to face his owner's wrath.

"Stand up straight, back straight, eyes and head at attention at most times! I swear if it weren't for my darling Monica you'd be beaten for your insolence! Hmpf! I'm sure THAT would snap you into place!" She said as she walked off. Her point had been made and she knew he would get to work, though she would most certainly check on him.

Even so, the master of the house was not going to be up for another hour, which left him enough time to take care of his own matters. As long as he moved quickly, he could make it to the point in time.

Quietly, he left to the "servant's exit" so he could reach the grounds outside, and then proceeded to go through the maze and snuck out the back of the property. He never understood why his owners wanted a hedge maze, or why humans could get so hopelessly lost inside it, but they paid money once a year to go see it, and the few humans who tipped him tipped well, well enough he could afford some of his own things.

It was hard trying to move through the wilds some distance away without getting his outfit soiled, but he couldn't afford to undo it all and put it back on. He wouldn't come back in time. It only took 15 minutes before he managed to successfully reach his meeting place.

A wide tree stump, slightly curved by the rain and use into a semblance of a wooden basket, though some of the attendants called it their throne, stood in front of him. A few other local Pokemon in on this front were waiting, and while one or two snickered, the others understood he only put up with it as long as the humans oppressed them.

He tried to wait patiently, but he had little time. He only waited for two minutes before a dark form slithered up to the tree and nested itself on top.

"My fellow ssssssservantssss," The seviper hissed as it started to release its message, "We shall be sssservantsss no longer!"

It didn't have much of a chance to continue as they all cheered, but were hissed into silence.

"We mussst wait until the moon ssetss and then, one by one, we shall take over our homesss. I know that mossst of you," Seviper said, looking to everyone in the group but lucario, "will be able to do thisss. But be cautiousss! I wass told we musst keep from killing any of thossse... humanssss." it hissed as it spat out the last word. "The ssage warned that if we make the humanssss mad, they might kill other Pokemon in revenge."

They murmured quietly to themselves for a bit. Seviper watched with a sly grin on his face before continuing, "But! The ssage did not ssay anything about 'accidentsssssss' yes?"

The Pokemon grinned, they knew what he implied, and they liked it.

"Above all elsssse, we mussst avoid making it look like we did anything... And the perfect home to attack is yourssssssss lucario." it hissed with a very wide grin.

Lucario grinned evilly, "Its about time. I'd love to turn things around on them, just give me the chance!"

"Oh, you sssshall have your chanssse all right. We'll make ssure all three of them sssssssleep for good!" Seviper said, weaving his head lightly back and forth while staring at Lucario.

"Wait, all three of them?" He asked apprehensive.

"Yessssss, isss that a problem? Are you not with usssss?" Seviper asked dangerously.

"No I am!" he protested loudly, "I just wanted the one girl as a..." he struggled to figure out what to call her, "servant of my own." He tasted a slight bile in his mouth as he thought of putting her through what he went through, but it was only a front right? He didn't think he would do such a thing to her, would he?

"Purrrrfect idea Lucario." a Persian said. "I think I may do something similar myself... My own master deserves death, but maybe keeping him a servant would put him in his place, like a magicarp in a barrel!" it said, licking a paw clean as it relished the idea.

"Yesssss, I can ssee that." Seviper said, still smiling, though lucario could sense a change. It wasn't the same smile, and it still had something up its skin. "Very well, you can have the one ass your own ssslave, but don't disappoint ussss."

"You worry about your own hide." He replied, trying to put on a brave enough front to throw him off, "I'll do my part. All of you will be able to get in just fine. Set it up for 4 in the morning. Now, if that's it, I've got to go back to get everything ready."

"Of Courssssse." the Seviper said, "Go, we shall make our move tonight, all of ussss!"

Lucario ran back to the property, concerned about how to get everything done, but still ensure the safety of Monica. His mind seemed to race much faster than he could run, but it made the time pass all the quicker for it.


	4. Desire to protect what matters

That night, Chev slept soundly, despite sleeping on the ground. True, there was some padding to try to help smooth it out, but it still was never enough. The padding was quite comfortable for Bayleef, but despite her best efforts, she couldn't sleep.

After waiting several hours to sleep, and it would not come, she heavily got up and walked outside the tent, leaving Chevaki in the tent to sleep soundly.

She knew that she should have evolved to the final stage of her life by now, yet she hadn't. She wanted to make it happen, but he seemed fine with her so far. He didn't tell her that her evolving was the problem, but she knew that if she didn't, she might not manage to help him win and keep him safe and fed.

She paced outside the tent for some time until a Furret scuttled along the treeline and psst'd at her. At this, she looked over at him in surprise, and decided to follow, curious at what he wanted.

They walked a decent way into the treeline, when he stopped and sat on top of a large rock.

"Hey, what'choo pacin' for?" He asked.

"I was... thinking." She said hesitantly, not sure what to say, unsecure in herself now that her master was no longer able to take care of her like he always had.

"Oh? Choo' lookin' forward to tonight too?" he said quickly, turning in a full circle in place on the stone.

Silently a Staraptor seemed to melt into view in front of Bayleef. It watched for a moment longer until Bayleef spoke.

"Uh, what's tonight?" She asked tentatively.

"Tell me, what were you thinking about, if not THAT?" Staraptor said, clicking its beak at the end expectantly.

Bayleef felt slightly cowed in front of the large bird and said, "Well, my Chev is running out of money, and I have to win in the contest or else we won't be able to be together."

"Really? Is that such a bad thing?" Staraptor asked dangerously.

"YES!" she said loudly, not realizing the predator's mood. "He's been so nice and took good care of me I don't know what I'd do without him!"

"Well, maybe I should do you a favor and separate you for good!" Staraptor said, flapping his wings powerfully in the equivalent of a wing attack, buffetting Bayleef with strong gusts of wind.

Bayleef looked at Staraptor with surprise and then anger, stronger than the few times she had ever been angry before. This oversized pillow was not about to take Chevaki away from her!

She spread her legs and braced her self against the wind, attempting to gather sunlight for a solarbeam, but then flinched when she forgot there was no sunlight.

A loud cawing from Staraptor ensued, then it vanished from sight, multiple breif glances to each side of Bayleef appearing as it encircled her.

She stood looking around, trying to figure out where it'd strike when suddenly it rammed into her hindside and caused her to flip unceremoniously onto her back with a sickening crunch against the rock she had been facing.

She hurt, but she was really mad now. As the Staraptor hovered in the air above her, hooting its victory over her, something snapped inside her. She yelled a wordless roar at the opponent and started to glow.

Furret hid from his spot inside the hollow of a tree, glad he was out of the way. Staraptor looked on, pleased with himself despite this predicament, and slightly shifted in the air.

Bayleef didn't care anymore. She was stronger now, she could feel it. She was going to use this strength to beat some sense into whoever or whatever threatened to separate her from Chevaki.

She started to try and send out leaves from her leaf on her head, but then realized it wasn't there. She felt the flower petals at the base of her neck, and then realized what she had to do. Gathering her anger and energy, she started sending onslaught after onslaught of razor leaves at the bird in the sky taunting her.

They traveled swiftly and struck true, hitting the Staraptor in the chest as it hovered in the air. The moment that it impacted and should have fallen, it simply disappeared.

She looked at it confused, then realized it must have been the use of a double team, but even so, it shouldn't have learned that in the wild she thought.

Staraptor used the confusion and hid its real self in the trees out of sight, but still within earshot. "Remember girl, You owe me. I gave you the power to evolve, now you will stay out of our way, or we will remove you from your human."

"Just you go ahead and try!"

He chuckled, this time from another location, "The night that we make our ownership of humans known." Staraptor said quietly. "They will oppress us no more. All over the world, we will become their masters, and they will suffer at our claws if we will it."

"I still won't let you hurt Chev!" she called out to the direction she thought he came from.

"Oh that might not be necessary, just keep him out of the way and we'll leave him alone... He'll be your pet this time."

She looked at the trees confused, trying to think of Chev as her pet, but she couldn't. They were always more or less equals. He got her food, a warm bed, clean water, and even sometimes some sweets, while she would fight for him and try to help him get this 'money' he needed to get her these things. Thinking of him as a pet just seemed strange.

"If he gets in the way, we can't guarantee he'll be safe. Think about what we said. You'll regret it if you don't." Staraptor said, and then with a loud flap of his wings and the rustle of a fast wind, he was gone.

Bayleef looked on, still confused, but no longer liking this forest, heading back the way she came toward chev's tent, noticing just how much bigger she became from her reaching her final stage.

She was a little clumsy, but she was happy, she evolved into a meganium, and would be able to surprise Chev. She still wasn't sure what those Pokemon were talking about, but with her newfound strength, she felt sure that she would be able to protect him.


	5. Early conflict

Lucario arrived with only minutes to spare back at the estate, just soon enough to dust down his outfit and proceed to pick up a tray of tea from the kitchen. The chef was human of course, but he had several assistance he made liberal use of, and while none of them liked it, they didn't fight for it like he did, or at least, he will tonight.

A Lopunny, nicknamed "Cathy the bunny-girl" by the chef, was about to pick up the tray and take it for Lucario, but as soon as she saw him she giggled and tried to hand it to him while batting her eyes at him.

He blinked, trying desperately to avoid giving her any ideas, as well as being watched by the chef for any "tom-foolery." The chef was more tolerable than the "masters" of the house, in the sense that they did get to eat well, but all the same, he held no attatchment to the Pokemon unless they performed particularly well. The problem was no one appeared to perform 'particularly well' in his eyes.

Lucario walked up the hall and stairwell carefully, perhaps a little slowly for what would be timely, but still, it was just as important to keep the tray completely unspilled. The slightest mistake would cost him dearly.

He went up to the office, carefully opening the door while balancing the tray, and presenting it to the middle aged gentleman at a desk filled with paperwork.

"No, tell Jarvan that I want those shipments out tonight! No I understand there's been trouble with the machinery, why do you think I gave you permission to use those machamp? … Well tell him I don't care, have them work 12 hour shifts if you have to, I want them moved!"

Lucario stayed in his posture, a bit out of reach of Victor, the master of the house. Whenever Victor rants, he gestures, and Lucario most certainly did not want to be at fault for Victor hitting the tray or himself and blaming it on him.

"Fine, if you can't get it done, then I'll just hire someone who can. I suppose you would rather have Jack take your position? Didn't think so!" Victor said as he hung the phone audibly. Lucario tried to suppress a flinch as he heard the plastic grate on the platform.

"And where have you been! No, don't answer, you were two minutes late and time is money!" He said, reaching for his cup of tea, sipping it as he turned to his work. "Hm, I see you already added the honey. That shouldn't take you two minutes though."

Lucario breathed a very quiet sigh of relief. As much as he hated to admit it, 'Cathy' saved his tail once again by doing that little bit extra to help him avoid trouble. However, she's been advancing toward him lately and he did not care to become too close to her. The main reason Victor and 'the mistress,' as he refused to call her by name, didn't neuter him was precisely because he didn't act on his instincts. Monica was also against it, as she was the one who adopted him and helped him evolve, but when he saw how they neutered the Mr Mime and what became of him, he knew he wanted to avoid that outcome at most costs.

"Lucario, I said clear this desk!" Victor said impatiently, setting the now empty teacup on the tray and going back to his papers and computer.

"Right away sir." he responded, the translator collar he wore relayed the words into speech Victor could understand. Lucario promptly set the tray down at the table near the door, which was always kept clear so whichever butler, Lucario or Cathy had something to set what they held down and resume their work.

Lucario proceeded to set all the papers in their appropriate filing cabinets, getting out any new papers that Victor called for. They had a system, and it worked well. Victor would set the papers on a pile near the outside of the desk, and Lucario would take them to the filing cabinets, and whenever Victor said "budget of 2000" or "resume of candidate 12" it was Lucario's cue to go fetch that file. It unfortunately didn't mean that it was without events.

"Tea!" Victor said after an hour of work, still looking at the computer.

With this, Lucario poured the still hot tea into the cup and positioned the cup and honey pourer on the tray so they both would be presented to Victor. He carefully brought the tray over and within reach of Victor.

Victor reached over to take the cup of tea, sipping it as he answered.

Lucario waited until Victor finished his call, suppressing his surprise at the civility of Victor compared to when he came in originally, and accepted the emptied cup. He turned to start walking away and set the tray back down when Victor closed the drawer without looking, slamming Lucario's tail-tip in the drawer with it.

Lucario let out a loud yelp as he felt his tail jammed in the drawer, trying to pull it out. His motion forward attempted to halt so he could twist himself free, only to find himself losing balance and toppling to the ground with a loud clamor of breaking china while he landed on his side.

Victor looked at lucario, face turning red while a vein on his head twitching. He stayed civil as he said, "Let me get back to you in a minute."

Lucario braced himself. It was never good to see Victor get angry, and if he was polite during his anger, it was all the worse for it. He thought about turning to pick up the broken pieces of china, but he knew he would be told off either way.

"I cannot believe you would make such a racket while I'm talking with one of my clients!" he said in an audible whisper. Lucario flinched, for he knew that tone, and it was colder than anything he had heard so far. "Now I'm going to have to settle this deal another time, and it'll cost you. Oh yes... It'll cost you. My dear Monica has babied you long enough."

Lucario looked up at Victor, anger from the threats starting to well up in his eyes. He thought it was hidden well, but apparently not well enough.

"Don't you even think about it. Enjoy being in my house tonight, it'll be your last. Get out of my sight!" Victor said, starting to stand up, reaching for a drawer Lucario hadn't seen open during most of his visits. Lucario now suspected he knew why. It was probably a weapon for defending against theives or worse.

Lucario scrambled to his paws and scampered out of the room as quickly as he could. He barely turned around the corner of the doorway before he heard the whistling of something flying past. There was no gunshot, but something was shot at him, and he didn't dare try to find out. He rushed to Monica's room as soon as he could.

Ever since he was a Riolu, he always had a place to hide in her room, he made sure of it, and so did Monica. While it didn't help that Victor tried installing tracking devices to keep an eye on how far away he was, in the end, Monica always removed them for him and tried to reassure him that nothing would happen. Nothing ever did happen, even when she was grounded for his sake.

Lucario's newest hiding spot was under monica's bed, but with a special cabinet that was a spacious room, albeit with a low ceiling, that was over the kitchen. Originally designed to be extra storage space, Monica and lucario worked on cleaning the place out, putting down carpeting and small furniture when they were younger and Lucario was a Riolu. Now, it became a quiet haven for when Monica wanted to skip school and sneak back in to play or relax, or when lucario was in trouble. She used her allowance to make sure that it required a key only they had to enter.

He fumbled with the key hidden in his pocket, secured by a small chain to ensure it wouldn't fall out or be stolen by anyone should the worst happen. He could hear victor pacing around, looking for him, but lucario tried to tell himself he wouldn't come too far. Work was too important to Victor to waste time looking for him when he'd see Lucario eventually.

Even so, Lucario also didn't want to take chances. The moment he had the key inserted into the hidden crevice where the machine was, he twisted the key like a safe combination, first turning it a quarter to the right, halfway left, then a full turn to the right. He never went by the clicks it made, the combination was too simple. If anything, the clicks were there to fool whoever did try to come after their special spot.

Lucario heard the door pop open as the machine released the key and silently reverted to its original position. Quickly he opened it enough to roll into the door and land on the mattress 4 feet below, and secured the door above him. He pressed a couple buttons to dim the lights and re-secure the door and waited.

He didn't wait long. It started to become apparent that victor was more involved with his work than he was in chasing Lucario and trying to make him pay. He may not have much combat experience, but he did know how to sense things if he concentrated hard enough.

He sat in the dimmed room, looking around to see if there could be something he can do while he waited for Monica to come home. With it only being noon, he had a few more hours yet to keep himself going. Then he remembered the plans for tonight, and focused all his planning and cuning on how to help make his retaliation possible. His only focus was helping Victor realize what a dangerous enemy he made.

Meanwhile, with Monica...

Monica had a bad feeling coming home from school. It was a decent distance away, but her family always had a way to have her be driven instead of walking like most students would. The driver always had a way of relaying what was going on in the house without him knowing it. This time, he was incredibly silent instead of asking how her day went.

"So... are you going to make me ask Jeff or are you going to tell me?" she said halfway home.

"I don't know what you mean young lady." He said tensly.

"You know full well what I mean. Don't make me wait to find out when I get home. Is it mother again?"

"No madam." Jeff replied. Monica's sixth sense told her he was telling the truth. He was too calm for it to be wrong.

"I see. So its Father then."

"Yes... it would seem so." Jeff replied, his words more tense.

Monica sighed audibly, despite the clucking Jeff gave for her doing so. Right now she couldn't give a damn about proper lady behavior.

"What's he done to Lucario this time?"

"Word around the house is that he yelled while the master was on the phone, as well as broke some of the master's favorite china."

"Is that all?" Monica asked, knowing that her father probably exaggerated the ordeal, as he always did.

"No madam, I oversaw the tazers being removed from the carpeting earlie-" He started to say before Monica called out over him.

"He tried to WHAT!"

"Young mistress, please-"

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! Are you saying my father tried to use a tazer on my Pokemon?" Monica stared in the rear-view mirror at Jeff until he nodded.

She pulled herself back into the seat and shook her head, frustrated with his behavior. Something was going on and she didn't like it one bit. More likely than not Lucario was needing to hide in their special place since her father dared to use a weapon on her Pokemon.

The rest of the drive was done in silence, her brooding on what would have caused her father to react that harshly, as well as what Lucario might have done, if on accident, to anger her father that much. Unfortunately, her mood was not improved at all by arriving home. She was immediately greeted by both her parents at the door.

She tried to walk in as if she were indifferent, to avoid a fight and start getting the full story, but her father wouldn't budge.

"Monica, we need to talk about that 'pet' of yours." Victor said, tense, but nowhere near as full of rage as he had before.

"Oh really? He no longer has a name then?" She asked, trying to remind them of how they treated her favorite.

"That mutt will have no name under my household lady!" He said, growing immediately impatient.

"Well, I guess I have no name either." She said, knowing she was pushing her luck.

"Don't you take that kind of tone with me!" Victor said, pointing downward at the ground, a habit of his when he was trying to make his point.

"Don't you take that kind of tone with me then!" She said back, her words coming out as cold as ice.

"Fine, you are now grounded to your room until I know what to do with you both! Now get!" Victor said, trying not to yell at his daughter while his wife kept her arm around his waist, reminding him of her presence.

"Whatever. One of these days you'll realize I'm not twelve." She said, trying to brush his threats aside. As long as she had lucario with her, she'd be fine anyway. On the way to her room, her room-maiden, Cathy looked up at her worried.

Monica smiled at her, giving her a wink and a secret symbol they developed a while ago, signaling to bring enough food for 2 or three when the time came for their meal.

Cathy smiled widely and looked down to hide it, lest the master of the house realize what they were up to. Monica smiled as she entered her room and Cathy dutifully locked the door behind her. Monica realized the flirting Cathy had been doing toward Lucario for some time. She actively encouraged it. It'd be nice to see him have a boyfriend.

She set her stuff down and got to work on organizing her homework, what little there was, and signed into her laptop on the desk. Once she turned it on, she opened the special program which helped monitor their hideout and sent a quick message to Lucario.

"Dad's livid, we'll talk during dinner. Cathy might be coming too. Love ya Lucas!"

She smirked. He always blushed when she called him by name, since it wasn't something she called him often, but she enjoyed it every now and then. Now he would see the message on the screen below her, and realize that he'll get to eat and have some time together later on.

With that taken care of, it was now time to complete her homework and work on her project some more. With any luck, she'll get the high grades she's been after, the ability to start her own business, and get away from her family's more oppressive nature toward Pokemon.

Lucario sensed Monica's entry to the room, he felt himself becoming much happier, she might have helped smooth things over already. But his hopes were dashed when she didn't walk over to the door to join him and went over to where the desk was.

He sat on the bean bag, trying to watch the monitor, seeing if there was any news from her. The monitor turned on, showing her message.

"Dad's livid, we'll talk during dinner. Cathy might be coming too. Love ya Lucas!"

He blushed, shaking his head as she called him by name. He loved that she called him it, even though it was embarassing too. He was known more as Lucario, and that's what always stuck. Either way, this wasn't good news to him, the only good part was dinner. He was almost definitely not going to be getting out of hiding anytime soon at this rate, and dinner ran the risk of Cathy trying to flirt with him.

It didn't help that Monica was encouraging him. She liked talking about how she wanted a boyfriend and how lonely Cathy had been lately. If he didn't know any better, he almost swore that Monica wanted them to mate, if only for her enjoyment.

He had to admit, he wouldn't mind if he wouldn't get neutered for a night or two of a good time. But seeing as he wasn't allowed to mate at all, he had preferences on who he would be with first, and he didn't want it to be that buneary.

He thought to himself for a while, getting hungrier as time went on.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen...

Cathy walked into the kitchen with a happy bounce to her step. The cook laughed at her in one of his rare good moods.

"Always the ray of sunshine eh Cathy?" He said, "Food'll be up in a moment, don't you worry."

She nodded, then wrote down the message from Monica.

"Oh, poor thing's actually gotten grounded eh? Well then, guess we'll be makin' more food for her today then! I'm guessing you'll be eating with them hm?" The chef asked, gathering the dishes together.

Cathy nodded vigorously, much to the chef's amusement.

"Easy there gel', chase someone too hard and they only run away when you catch em!" he said, putting the food containers on the food cart.

She blushed a little, not realizing how obvious her infatuation was to him, but was too happy to care. She pushed the cart at a moderate pace to Monica's room without incident, though it helped that the plates and cutlery were hidden on the second lower shelf that was under the tablecloth, hiding that the food was going to be split among 3 people, not just 1.

She mentally slapped herself back down, she wasn't a human, that was arrogant of her. Even so, when she was with Monica, she thought of herself as one. She was treated like one, well, almost. It was nice. It was even better when she got aproval from Monica to attract Lucario, even getting some tips every now and then. Alone time with Monica was rare, but always worth it.

She unlocked the door and pushed the cart in, locking the door behind her, more to keep others from getting in than for them getting out, but it kept the master happy, so she did it anyway.

"Oh, Cathy, good to see you honey!" Monica said, walking up to her and giving her a hug.

Cathy squeaked slightly at the embrace, then looked at Monica expectantly.

"Ohhhh, I see..." She said, giggling. "We'll see. I still need to find out what happened today from him, but I'll see what I can do." Monica said while ruffling Cathy's headfur.

Cathy smiled broadly and nodded, looking to their hidden place. She had always known where it was, but wasn't allowed to have her own key.

"Do you think that my parents or anyone else is going to come for the rest of the day?"

Cathy shook her head no. She had seen the master and mistress pacing around, the master was trying not to be too mad at his daughter and did not look forward to trying to explain that he attacked her Pokemon, while still trying to punish the Lucario for everything under the sun. The mistress was going to be occupied redirecting his attention onto her, which meant they were going to leave everyone else alone in the home.

"Are you absolutely sure?"

Cathy nodded again several times and smiled. She then proceeded to perform mock charades of the master and mistress, and despite her pokespeak, caused Monica to laugh repeatedly. After a minute or two, she waved Cathy to stop so she could catch her breath, and Cathy waited while she went to the secret hideout and opened the door.

"Come on, lets get the food in here before it gets cold." Monica said. Lucario practically bounded upward to get the food when he saw the door open, but paused slightly when he saw Cathy. He forced a small smile, and focused on getting the food into the hideout without spilling or otherwise ruining the food.

While they ate, lucario explained what happened from his perspective earlier today. He ate hungrily, as he missed on lunch, but tried to keep himself from making a mess. While he didn't like the formalities that he was forced to enact, he liked Monica and she preferred his meals 'tidy,' and that's exactly how he would eat.

Monica ate her share quietly, listening attentively to read between the lines. She couldn't picture anything he did wrong, aside from possible carelessness to leave his tail jam-able in the drawer. Even so, since that would be akin to jamming your fingers in a doorframe, she couldn't blame him for calling out when it happened.

It struck her as odd, she never knew her father to act quite this severely. Something must be going on and it was not treating her father well.

Lucario ate onward, finishing what Cathy and Monica weren't eating, while Monica grabbed a brush and started grooming Cathy's fur. Cathy, enjoying the attention, sat between Monica's legs and enjoyed both the brushing and the way that Lucario couldn't avoid looking at her every other sentence.

"Well, I don't know then... I haven't known father to be this mad at anyone. Did you overhear anything on the phone that might give us an idea of how important the call would have been?"

"No, if anything, nothing was said through the phone. He seemed like he was listening, but I didn't hear anything."

"Odd. Oh, sorry hun." Monica said, apologizing for the knot that was in Cathy's ear. She winced and made a soft squeak when she untangled it.

"Well, he can say what he wants. I'm not worried about it." Lucario said, relaxing back into the bean bag, stretching his arms upward as they brushed the ceiling.

"Easy for you to say, I'm the one that'll have to sort this out." She replied, casually moving onward from Cathy's ears to her back. "Still, if worst comes to worst I can always bring you with me in a pokeball. I know you don't like it but its a better alternative than being sent anywhere away from us."

Lucario laughed lightly for a second, then held his tongue as he thought of what would happen tonight. "Yeah, I'd rather be with you if I could."

Monica looked at him hard for a bit, almost finishing Cathy's back fur brush. Lucario hated being in a pokeball, to avoid resisting it either meant he is getting over his fear, or something else is happening. She couldn't think of what though. He never left the home, never connected with any other Pokemon outside of Cathy. The explanation for his behavior escaped her.

"Well, that's flattering, but don't get caught up in that idea too much before you forget what you have here." Monica said. She watched him closely for his response.

Lucario looked at her confused, with hints of worry to his face. That almost sealed it in her mind. Something changed. He wouldn't have reacted this way, he would have been thoughtful, or waved her off, now she knew he wondered how much she knew. 'Well, let's let him think I know something. He might actually tell me what's going on in his head for once.'

Monica noticed how Cathy wriggled in her lap, smiling a bit without thinking. Poor girl thought that Monica had meant that as a way of helping Cathy be noticed and wanting to court him. It's true that she did try to phrase it in a more general way, but she didn't quite intend that effect. Still, she's been trying to get Lucario to notice her for months on end. Maybe it was time to give the two a push.

"I think for now," She said, giving extra attention to Cathy's curves while she had Lucario's attention, "You should stay in here so that I can make sure my father doesn't plan on electrocuting you again."

Lucario watched Cathy being groomed with the dumbfounded stare of a male seeing a female and being caught in the headlights. Monica wanted to laugh, but kept it to a smile as she watched, wondering if all males were this easy to manipulate. It seemed cute to see them that way, but she hoped there was more to males than that, otherwise she might need to rethink whether she wanted a boyfriend as much as she did.

Monica pulled a drawer open and unfolded an older dress of hers that she still liked, and held it up against Cathy's form to see if it would fit well. When it looked like it would fit, she started putting the pink and yellow gingham dress on Cathy, making adjustments where needed to help it fit better.

Lucario watched, no longer hiding that he was effectively staring at the pair. Monica chuckled silently, knowing that Cathy felt it and asked, "Well girl? How's that feel?"

Cathy stood up in front of Monica, her head almost touching the ceiling, and pirouetted slowly for them both. She was beaming profusely with happiness from the meal with them, the grooming, and the noticable attention she was getting now.

"Seems like its missing something... oh!" Monica said, realizing what was missing. She reached into the drawer and dug a little before finding a yellow ribbon. Reaching over to Cathy's ear, she started tying the ribbon onto her ear. Despite the fancy bow, there was still a section of the ribbon that flowed behind the Lopunny, but with a bit of adjusting, the bow looked perfect and incorporated the flowing excess ribbon behind her to Monica's liking.

"So, what do you two think?" She asked. Monica saw Cathy bounce around quite a bit at the appearance, loving it, and looking to lucario for approval.

Lucario looked speechless, as if he wanted to go up and hold Cathy by Monica's best estimate and yet trying to hold himself back. Monica finally let out a giggle and then said, "Let me give you two some time alone. And Cathy, feel free to come whenever you like."

With that, she opened the door in the ceiling and escaped the room to let the two have their fun. She barely started closing the door and Cathy was already walking toward lucario.

Monica chuckled, realizing what was going to happen. She thought to herself it was about time Cathy got to have her wish. Now she needed to make sure her homework was submitted like it should have been, and she can get a good night's sleep. She had a strong feeling that lucario was going to be much happier by tomorrow...


End file.
